Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Is anyone here following the FFG RPG books? They've given a ton of nuance to the "antagonist" species in general. Never thought you'd get misty-eyed over the Neimoidians and Muuns?

For those of you lamenting what EA has done (and what I still think they will continue to do) to Star Wars games, Xbox Games with Gold is releasing Jedi Academy of all games for free next month.

That was a big thing with the old Legends. That the rise of a new Jedi order inevitably led to Dark Jedi and Sith coming out of the woodwork to challenge them.

Edited by Beatman1 on Jan 29th 2019 at 4:07:15 AM

FUCK YEAH, JEDI ACADEMY!

That whole series of games was so fricking stellar. From doom clone in it's very beginnings to the ultimate refinement of what lightsaber gameplay ought to be.

Which is presumably how the Jedi Order managed to get by 1,000 years effectively unchallenged, one presumes.

Edited by Gaon on Jan 29th 2019 at 1:17:39 AM

I’ve been looking for both that game and KOTOR 2 at used game stores but with no luck (I don’t have a PC or an Xbone so unfortunately the cut content and movie battles 2 are unavailable to me). I have Jedi Outcast and I’m enjoying it though I’m stuck on the second Nar Shaddaa segment (the garbage disposal plant). I have a ps2 so I can get the ps1 port of Dark Forces 1 but I’m hesitant to get it since I heard mixed things about the quality port. I don’t know if it’s like Deus Ex on PS 2 where its fine for what it is or a disaster like ps1 shadowman

Edited by Invincibleasshole on Jan 30th 2019 at 9:57:25 AM

Is this coming Sunday the Super Bowl? I wonder if we'll get any Ep. IX goodies there.

There probably won't be a trailer, but we might learn the name.

Any news would be welcome. It’s that or we all end up reminiscing about Jedi Academy next month.

Which given how EA has handled stuff, isn’t unwelcome.

Edited by Beatman1 on Jan 30th 2019 at 2:08:47 PM

You know what I wouldn't mind? A Jedi Academy trilogy or TV show.

Kinda hard to make one in the new timeline, unless Kyle is rebooted as a Resistance merc turned Jedi...

Actually that would be pretty cool, especially alongside the Mandalorian.

You could either set it in the Old Republic (with the Old Jedi Order) or have it set after Episode 9 (where presumably Rey will try and restart the Jedi).

How long was Luke's Order active? They could always set it in that time.

Hell, they could just do a soft retcon and say that not all of Luke's students were killed (which imo is reductive anyway), and have a story that begins with a Jedi learning from Luke and ends with them surviving the Knights of Ren without Luke or the others knowing (or, for maximum funny, Leia pulling a Nick Fury and keeping them in secret as a reserve just in case) and going on to protect the galaxy in their own way.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jan 30th 2019 at 11:49:44 AM

It’s a big galaxy, that can easily work.

Plus Luke’s kinda of an idiot so of course he would never notice.

That's the main failing of the sequels, they rehashed The Purge of the Jedi Order to prop up Rey as the newest Jedi, but what then? Are we going to see her as an old battleaxe and Grand Master of her own Jedi Order? At this rate we will be waiting another decade before seeing an actual fledging resurgence of the Jedi post-empire, something that was already hinted towards in ROTJ (hell, consider "Return of the Jedi" vs. "The Last Jedi," kind of on the nose with the Happy Ending Override).

The fun part of Katarn is how he parallels Luke's story but has more of an edge to him. I believe he was also the first in the old EU to introduce the concept that having force powers introduces a corruptible element in otherwise good people, and that separating yourself from it can be seen as for the best. I think about the only chance of seeing a faithful Kyle Katarn would have to be a "Met Luke, got some training but left to do his own thing" so he could return, which is completely in tune with his story arc. Jedi Academy didn't have the greatest story, but the Bad Ending is seen by a lot of people as Better Than Canon simply because there is a Sequel Hook and more story to tell.

I think the smaller scaled and reductive nature of the sequels could actually be a strength in this case. A lot of exposition is only given to us from the very limited perspective of the main characters, and the writers - should they realize this - are fully free to use that limited perspective as a means to establish things as being different than what those perspectives believe: it's like how Harry Potter has a lot of worldbuilding, but ultimately the limited perspective and Harry knowing jack shit about everything means there's gaping holes in the world that Rowling could and did fill with each new book in the series.

In this case, we're told that the Knights of Ren rebelled and wiped out Luke's Order. We're told that Luke was so guilty he left. And that's it. We don't know anything about the Knights themselves, we don't know anything about what Luke's Order was like. We don't even know who was in it or what it's connection was with the Republic.

So they could easily just establish that there was more to it than just what the Knights destroyed, it just needs the spark to be reconverged.

Similarly, the Republic as a whole. We're shown the First Order destroying Hosnian, one planet. Then we're told things from limited perspectives: the First Order is spreading out into the galaxy. The First Order believes they're invincible (and we have two movies worth of moments to show they're not). We're shown that the Resistance, specifically, is on its last legs.

But because there's literally no worldbuilding or establishment as to what the New Republic is in favor of strictly showing the Resitance, the actual state of the galaxy outside the Resistance fighting the First Order is up in the air. They could go the complacent route and go "and then everything instantly turned back into the Empire ruling the the Resistance rebelling," but that would be a waste. They have the ability right now to have the situation be more complicated than that: maybe the Republic is still around, but in disarray.

Maybe things are splintering again, and this sparked a new Galactic Civil War along the lines of the Separatist situation. Maybe it's a full scale conflict with the First Order fighting the Republic, the Resistance, and everyone else who wants to spring up in the chaos all at once. Etc, etc, etc. It's a total blank area.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jan 30th 2019 at 12:56:37 PM

I'm worried that Abrams will continue with the whole "the galaxy is always in danger due to the Empire (even if we call them something else) and only the Rebellion (even if we call them something else) can save us" that he did in the first movie. I would love for the New Republic to ride in and save the day, having picked up the pieces after Hosnian, but I just don't see that happening.

Yeah, JJ Abrams surely limited the perspective of the Star Wars universe by virtually destroying all the bigger things beyond the scope. There's a difference between Harry not knowing the bigger Wizardry World and the Wizardy World being destroyed by Death Eaters to the point that only Hogwarts exists.

IIRC there was some sort of Executive Meddling or something of that nature to make The Rebellion still a thing. Personally, I think The New Republic could have played a similar role as The Resistance. Just say they still use the same uniforms and the like, it really just makes sense IMO.

The sort of "movie for fans" theme with replicating the Empire vs Rebels concepts we remember again is definitely Abrams' style, so I doubt Executive Meddling was too involved. The Story Group and Disney have been infamously laissez-faire with the current arc in general - at least before the massive cancelling wave last year.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jan 30th 2019 at 2:55:27 AM

in Legends the former Rebels and the former Empire fought non-stop for fifteen in-universe years before the latter finally got put in a box, recall...

That's another thing. The Imperial Remnant is still around. They're explicitly not affiliated with the First Order. They've got some interesting characters associated with them (Rae Sloane, for one). It would be awesome to see them.

Like, can you imagine a scene with the Imperial Remnant siding with the Republic against the First Order?

And then if you skip forward 133 years, the Republic and Empire merged together.

Edited by alliterator on Jan 30th 2019 at 3:07:11 AM

> Like, can you imagine a scene with the Imperial Remnant siding with the Republic against the First Order?

That's what I'm hoping for in all honesty,along with knights of Ren showing up at some point,or maybe even possible survivors of Luke's order..

I would more than welcome a stand-alone Jedi Academy series set in Legends.

Rae Sloane is (was?) First Order, IIRC - she broke rank from the Emperor's "burn everything to the ground if I die" orders and took half the Empire's military into hiding in the Unknown Regions.